How and when to start that difficult conversation - when you’re worried about someone's drinking or drug use

In this free and confidential one hour webinar, Psychiatrist and Addiction Medicine Specialist Dr Winstock will share practical advice and strategies about how and when to have that difficult conversation.

17 Dec 2015
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Date / Time

Thursday 17th December 2015

At 12:00pm Noon PST / 8:00pm GMT London

One hour – close at 1:00pm PST / 9:00pm GMT

Presenter

Dr Adam R Winstock MD MRCP MRCPsych FAChAM

Founding Director, Global Drug Survey

Consultant Psychiatrist & Addiction Medicine Specialist

Story

For many people Christmas is all about indulging, from one too many mince pies to drinking too much at the office party. But are you worried about someone's drinking or drug use this Christmas? It's often really difficult to know what to say, but ignoring the problem may lead to real harm.

Based on 20 years clinical experience and feedback from over 200,000 Global Drug Survey research participants worldwide, Dr Winstock will highlight common drugs and the red flags to look out for, free tools and services that offer help - and a 30 minute Q&A where he'll give anonymous advice on your questions.

Topics covered

A 30-minute presentation will cover:

Common drugs and the problems they cause

Red flags: knowing what signs to look out for

A demonstration of a free online assessment tools

Knowing where you can send people for help

How and when to start “that” conversation

This will be followed by a 30 minute Q & A session where questions about clinical issues and treatment options will be taken from the audience.

Back-story

Through running the GDS and experience of treating tens of thousands of people with problems related to their use of drugs / alcohol from varied cultures, communities and countries, Dr Adam Winstock has developed a broad and accepting framework for assessing and planning health care interventions for people.

Dr Winstock says “My experience working and educating people from across the world has taught me while the drug might change in purity and preparation, the basic principals of acceptance, transparency, engagement, assessment and care planning remain the same”.

However such interventions and the need to see a specialist are only required by a minority of people. Far more common are transient or time- limiting problems that for people are taken as signposts to change what they do or how they do it.

Many people already have their own rules in place to help them 'control' their use of adopt common sense strategies to help them adopt healthier relationships with drugs or drink.

For those using substances to cope that can sometimes be a real challenge. Where the drug is illegal or when the person’s social, cultural or professional environment is likely to be judgmental disclosure and fears of shame can delay help seeking. Anonymity can be a blessing or a curse.

This open-access webinar is Dr Winstock’s way of saying thank you to everyone who has supported GDS and to provide an opportunity for people everywhere to gain an insight into safer drug-use whether they use drugs or are worried about people who do.

Not only will it help people use drugs more safely regardless of the legal status of the drug but your feedback will help us formulate our program of clinical drug treatment webinars in 2016.

Places for the live event will be limited to the1,000 people who sign in at 12:00pm PST / 20:00 GMT on Thursday 17th December 2015

The CSTF is a joint initiative of the New York and Vienna NGO Committees on Drugs. To support preparations for the 2019 Ministerial Segment, to be held at the 62nd Session of CND, Global Civil Society Hearings are being held in New York (20th February 2019) and Vienna (26th February 2019).

This event will launch Harm Reduction International's latest report on this issue and discuss how abolishing the death penalty for drug offemnces could serve as an entry point for broader abolition efforts.